Major findings in records about Giffords shooting

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — As authorities investigated the rampage that killed six people and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, they compiled nearly 3,000 pages of documents that include everything from interviews with survivors and victims to police reports filed from the scene of the crime. The documents were released Wednesday, and provide new insight into how the shooting occurred and the motivations behind gunman Jared Loughner. A look at some of the notable findings:

LOUGHNER

The gunman was polite and cooperative with authorities who were holding him the afternoon following his morning shooting rampage. The conversation as Loughner sat in restraints in an interview room was mainly small talk. Little was said over the four hours. Loughner asks at one point if he can please use the restroom and says “Thank you” when allowed. At another point he complained that “I’m about ready to fall over.”

GUNMAN’S PARENTS

Loughner’s mother, Amy, described his run-ins with authorities, his use of marijuana and cocaine, his journals and his increasingly erratic behavior. She also says the parents took a shotgun away from Loughner after he was kicked out of a community college.

THE SCENE

Giffords intern Daniel Hernandez helped tend to his boss after she was shot in the head. In an interview, he described the chaos: “She couldn’t open her eyes. I tried to get any responses for her. Um, it looked like her left side was the only side that was still mobile. Um, she couldn’t speak. It was mumbled. She was squeezing my hand.”

Advertisement

“I did some training as a Certified Nursing Assistant and as a phlebotomist, um, when I was in high school. So I knew that we need to see if she’s got a pulse. She was still breathing. Her breathing was getting shallower. Uh, I then lifted her up so that she wasn’t flat on the ground against the wall,” he said.

THE ENCOUNTER

Hernandez described how constituents and other people were lining up to see Giffords, and he was helping people sign in. He recalled handing Loughner a clipboard. “The next thing I hear is someone yell gun,” he said.

LOUGHNER FRIEND

One-time Loughner friend Zachary Osler was an employee at a store where the gunman later bought a Glock before the shooting. He was questioned about seeing Loughner shopping inside, sometime before Thanksgiving. He describes an awkward encounter with his former friend. “His response is nothing. Just a mute facial expression. And just like he, he didn’t care.”

Osler told investigators he had grown uncomfortable with Loughner’s personality, “He would say he could dream and then control what he was doing while he was dreaming.”